


The Mediocre Job

by ElasticElla



Category: Leverage, The Good Place (TV)
Genre: Afterlife, Background Relationships, Crossover Pairings, F/F, character death already happened given the au so idk there's that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-13
Updated: 2018-05-13
Packaged: 2019-05-06 09:18:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14638791
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Vicky gets her own Good Place to manage. A definite step up from being Denise the pizza lady.





	The Mediocre Job

**Author's Note:**

  * For [katiesaygo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/katiesaygo/gifts).



> a belated gift to the loml katie <333

Vicky was absolutely thrilled when Shawn agreed with Michael and gave her a domain just for her to torture people at. The idea was to see how repeatable the Good Place really is, but Vicky likes to think of it as the last stepping stone to becoming an architect. (She was getting worried when Michael hit his eighth version, and her own realm is so much more than she hoped for with that tidy slice of blackmail.)

She has five humans to start, a group that was a team on earth for a while before two of them left. There’s plenty of fun history to mess around with, and Vicky’s ready for the challenge. She already has hundreds of pages of plans and personal flaws and ideal torture methods. 

The trick will be not letting any of them know the place is fake- she isn’t going to have tons of failures like Michael. But she’s already set up precautions to avoid this. 

First, there isn’t going to be an architect- just a few instructional videos Michael prepared- and some friends that she trusts to stay in character. As an additional safety measure, all demons will be using their common human names so there aren’t any mix-ups there. Second the exes, Nate and Sophie, will be soulmates. Eliot and Hardison also will be- as no demon could possibly annoy Eliot as much as Hardison. On Hardison’s side, Eliot considers himself very straight and has made a few unknowingly insensitive comments about Hardison’s bisexuality. (Vicky makes another mental note to do something with one sandwich in their fridge.)

Parker is the wildcard, and as such will be Vicky’s soulmate. Michael’s problem is he constantly lets Eleanor do whatever the fuck she wants because he’s lazy- Vicky is taking a much more hands-on approach with her torturees. 

The most dramatic change though, is that this isn’t the Good Place- it’s the Mediocre Place. Vicky’s pretty sure that distinction will keep them from questioning their torture entirely. Also wanting to avoid the ‘real’ Bad Place. They were in an afterlife made up of people who did good things in life, but also did very bad things; unable to fit neatly in either place. The Medium Place doesn’t sound like your ceiling might just not be there one morning while it’s raining, thus mediocrity to the rescue. 

(Also no swear filters: _fuck_ that.)

.

“…Janet will be passing out slips of paper with a unique location to meet your soulmate at- isn’t that nice? Like a lion nuzzling a baby antelope, every day is cautiously magical in the Mediocre Place.” 

Vicky took a seat in the back so she wouldn’t have to pay attention to the boring speech again, keeping her eye on her fellow demons and checking on the humans’ reactions every once in a while. Still Michael’s stupidly loud voice interrupts her human watching- Sophie is pointedly looking at the screen as Nate stares at her- and she unfortunately catches the end of his speech. 

Janet hands out the slips of paper with a smile, four versions below the Janets they usually use. Vicky wanted the most outdated version that can still drive the train (given a clearance code) and reset the universe. A Janet that doesn’t learn, won’t be confused with a human by anyone, and is much closer to something the humans could actually create in their world. In other words: a Janet that can’t do shit to help the humans escape if they somehow figure it out. 

Vicky pretends to read her slip, walking to the footbridge. She makes sure to face the lake, Hardison and Eliot will be out there soon, and she waits for the human. The scenery is rather nice- if all goes well Vicky’s going to be spending a few centuries here, doesn’t need ugly scenery of all things. (She even included a little volcano in the middle of their one ocean, in case she really needs to get away and take a dip in some molten lava.)

Loud arguing jumps her out of her thoughts, and ah yes, Eliot and Hardison have discovered they are soulmates. Eliot is insisting that he knows how to use a canoe (he does not, the reason their location was on a boat in the middle of the lake), and Hardison keeps trying to help. 

Parker joins her with a fake smile, and Vicky suddenly understands why Michael enjoys watching suffering without directly managing it. It’s a lovely display, Parker’s fingernails dipping into her own palms and her breathing elevated. Vicky doesn’t think the girl herself knows if she wants to cry or scream more, and if she could bottle up that feeling, she’d have the best demonic perfume ever. 

With a hollow gaze, she turns away from the guys, “Hi, I’m Parker.” 

Vicky offers a much more genuine smile, eyes darting down to her lips, “Vicky.” 

(She’s gonna seduce the socks off blondie.)

.

Their first day together, Parker explains Leverage, discloses that she’s never kissed a girl but Alice White has, and introduces Vicky to the other four members of her team. There’s an awkward group dinner that does even more than Vicky hoped. 

Parker was already vaguely thinking that her and Hardison didn’t work out because Eliot wasn’t there to stabilize them, but now it’s because she wasn’t Eliot. There’s a fresh angst to her scent that for once Vicky doesn’t want to deepen or toy with. 

There’s plenty of time after all, no need to do have anything backfire over impatience. 

And so maybe Vicky puts all of her creative energies into torturing the other four- so what? Parker already tortures herself enough, and if Parker isn’t happy at home that’s effectively punishing Vicky, and Vicky has no need to punish herself. 

She isn’t sure when it happened- sometime between the basement flooding and the fire alarm staying on for three straight days- but Vicky stopped getting enjoyment out of Parker’s pain. An odd anomaly, and she’s already double checked their home for any signs of witchcraft. (Not that ordinary witchcraft would even work on a demon like her but, anyways, it wasn’t there.) 

Surely whatever this odd block is will fade within decades, and until then she’ll just have to enjoy her picnics and hikes with Parker. (They are, Vicky supposes, rather nice.)


End file.
